Emma Straub
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 35 THIS WEEK
- 160 TOTAL
participant impact
-
UP TO2.0whole food mealsconsumed
-
UP TO8.0locally sourced mealsconsumed
-
UP TO8.0plastic containersnot sent to the landfill
-
UP TO20gallons of waterhave been saved
Emma's actions
Water
5-Minute Showers
I will save up to 20 gallons (75 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.
Water
Say No to Plastic Straws
An estimated 71% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. When they ingest plastic, marine life has a 50% mortality rate. By asking for no straw when placing a drink order, I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) of out of the ocean each day.
Community
Support Native Communities
I will use the resource links provided below and spend 60 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.
Community
SIGN UP TO VOTE
I will make sure I’m registered to vote. While I’m at it, I’ll sign up to help others register too!
Waste
Use Reusable Bags
If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.
Waste
Carry my Trash
I will carry all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash with me to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.
Energy
Online Energy Audit
I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.
Energy
Learn About Renewable Energy
I will spend 30 minutes learning more about renewable energy alternatives (i.e. solar, wind, biomass) in my region.
Food
Buy From a Farmers Market
I will purchase produce and meat from a local farmers market or food co-op.
Food
Whole Food Lifestyle
I will enjoy 2 meal(s) each day free of processed foods.
Participant Feed
Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.
To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?
-
Emma Straub 5/01/2025 12:45 PMHi all! This week I chose to reduce my water usage by limiting my showers to 5 minutes. I have been timing them each day and have averaged close to 4 minutes. I timed a couple showers before trying this challenge and found my average would be around 7 minutes, so it wasn't incredibly difficult to shave off a few minutes from my average shower. This has been able to reduce my water usage by approximately 6 gallons of water per day, or 42 gallons per week! Additionally, I participated in not using disposable plastic straws. I have my own metal boba straw, as well as silicone straws that split so they can be cleaned, and I chose to use these at the couple places I chose to eat out this week instead of opting for a plastic straw. I think this is a habit that I will continue to have after this class as it is an easy alternate to using plastic straws that negatively affect ocean life.-
Amy Minato 5/06/2025 1:49 PM- TEAM CAPTAIN
i just bring a set of utensils (with straw) and a bowl with me for take out. good job on the shorter shower -
Avalon Zhu 5/04/2025 11:08 PMThis week, I also chose the option of reducing the shower time. It's indeed not difficult. Many times, we relax when taking a bath, so we unconsciously spend a lot of time. We can imagine this as a small task.
-
-
Emma Straub 4/24/2025 11:37 AMSince I already eat as little meat as I possibly can, I decided this week to make as many meals out of whole foods that I could, and to shop for my produce at local farmer's markets. I managed to eat two meals of non-processed food for every day so far this week. To do this, I bought a lot of produce at the Saturday Farmer's Market, including broccoli, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. I was also able to locally source chicken from a natural grocer that sells local chicken, and this comprised most of my meals this week as my partner and I meal prep. I found it not only felt better connecting with community members through the farmer's markets, but my body feels better eating whole foods, and finding local vegetables means they are a lot more flavorful as they don't have to travel long distances. These challenges encouraged me to visit my local markets more often and try to source more food locally.-
Amy Minato 4/30/2025 8:06 PM- TEAM CAPTAIN
i bet it was delicious! i think we have to consider the cost to our health of poor quality food... -
Ella Waldrop 4/24/2025 11:21 PMYay! Hi Emma,
That sounds so awesome, and I am looking forward to going to the farmers market this week too. I also eat meat/ consume dairy, I need to carve out some time to learn about local options for the two, it seems a lot more daunting than produce for some reason. Also, yay for meal prep because less food wasted, and also local, I love it :)
-
-
Emma Straub 4/14/2025 8:55 AMFor this week’s eco-challenge, I reviewed resources and learned about sustainable energy for 30 minutes, as well as doing an online at-home energy audit of my apartment to learn where energy use could be improved. It was suggested by Energy Trust of Oregon that I utilize PGE’s low income program or use their energy saving tips. I was also recommended to use a different material in the window frames if possible. I currently live in an older apartment building and there aren’t many ways to improve the energy use on my end without receiving agreement from the building owners. While there are small improvements that could be made such as water usage, I am on the third floor and have so little water pressure that water-saving attachments for the shower and sinks would be ineffective.For my learning about sustainable energy, I read the article Green hydrogen: A pathway to a sustainable energy future by Hassan, Q., et al. It was really interesting to learn about the places that green hydrogen could become more useful in, especially as a fuel source for industries such as transportation, energy storage, and power generation, things that ordinarily require traditional fuels such as gasoline. Green hydrogen is easily storable and therefore is a better candidate to replace fuel in the long run. This source of energy would also grow the economy by providing jobs to the country, and would greatly enhance energy security. Unfortunately, it has been difficult so far to expand the use of green hydrogen as an energy source due to the lack of willingness to grow sectors outside of gas and fossil fuels. More research will ultimately need to be done in order to expand sustainable sources of energy as replacement for gas and fossil fuels in the sectors of transportation, power generation, and industry.
References
At Home Online Assessment. Energy Trust of Oregon. (2025). https://energytrust.clearesult.com/assessment/customer/recommendation/
Hassan, Q., Algburi, S., Sameen, A. Z., Salman, H. M., & Jaszczur, M. (2024). Green hydrogen: A pathway to a sustainable energy future. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 50, 310–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.08.321-
Ella Waldrop 4/18/2025 6:36 PMHi Emma, I totally relate to your struggle of being at the mercy of an apartment building! My ecochange project focuses on food scraps and compost, and I emailed my landlord and asked for a compost can for my complex, to which he said no :( It can be frustrating!! Feeling like we can't even make choices we want when we are at home, even though we know that they will be beneficial! Thank you for your research :) Best of luck to you -
Amy Minato 4/14/2025 4:42 PM- TEAM CAPTAIN
-
-
Emma Straub 4/10/2025 6:05 AMHi all! I just wanted to share about my experience with the eco-challenges about waste this week. I chose to use only reusable bags, a practice which I usually follow but can forget if I don't bring a bag with me. This week I was really dedicated and careful to make sure I have a reusable bag in all my purses, one in my car, and one next to my front door so that I can take it with me if I need it. I saved about 5 bags that would have been disposable ones previously.
Another practice I decided to try was carrying my trash with me throughout the day in order to have a better perspective on the disposable items I have been contributing to the landfill. It was very alarming to see that I not only threw away 11 different single use items in one day, but was using disposable silverware more than I thought! I plan to start packing silverware and bringing it with me to avoid this waste, and being more conscious of the packaging that my food items come in to find less single use plastic items. Thanks for letting me share my journey this week!-
Amy Minato 4/14/2025 4:43 PM- TEAM CAPTAIN
-
Avalon Zhu 4/13/2025 10:52 PMI also chose the task of saving bags, because I went to the supermarket too many times last month, which caused me to save a lot of plastic bags, which I usually choose to use as my garbage bag, but the speed of use is far less than the speed of accumulation. I've decided to use my gym bag to go to the supermarket this month.
-